February 6, 19 13] 



NATURE 



631 



The chief interest of the Marau Society is that it " is 

 a woman's fraternity, and in Oraibi has its own kiva, 

 or underground ceremonial chamber; but, as is the 

 case with all women's societies, a number of men also 

 belong- to the order, who perform certain functions and 

 control certain sacred objects in all the ceremonies." 

 The cult conforms to the usual type of the ceremonies 



-,. 2.— Childr-n's burial places, top view, 

 some of which sticks and food bowK 

 Miscellaneous Hopi Papers." 



of the Pueblo Indians. There are altars with a screen 

 of slabs of wood representing cornstalks, lightning, 

 and deceased members of the order, at the sides are 

 figurines of the deities of the order, in front is the 

 medicine bowl with six ears of corn, aspergills, &'c., 

 trays with meal, rattles, bone whistles, and other 

 articles used in the rites. 



NO. 2258, VOL. go] 



The ceremonies are too elaborate to describe; they 

 consist largely of ceremonial smoliing, asperging, 

 sprinkling meal, offering feathered prayer-sticks, re- 

 peating prayers, and the like (Fig. i). It is 

 significant that this woman's cerernony is con- 

 nected with agriculture, ,and tliat, as' in other 

 societies, the summer or autumn ceremonies are more 

 elaborate than the winter per- 

 formances. A free translation 

 of one of the songs runs as 

 follows: — "Now, then, here 

 we array (decorate), these four 

 different ones (somewhere in 

 the four world quarters), our 

 fathers, the chiefs (deities) ; 

 therefore cooperate we here 

 with our offerings. From 

 somewhere, may, wdtli their 

 lielp, the four different ones 

 (the deities of the four world 

 quarters) have pity upon us 

 quickly, and let it rain at the 

 right time." 



Mr. Voth has wisely given 

 all the details he observed, 

 but it would be very helpful 

 if he would prepare a short 

 synopsis of this and other 

 ceremonies giving only such 

 details as are sufficient to 

 illustrate the symbolism of 

 the ritual, and describing the 

 real significance of the cere- 

 mony and the religious 

 sentiments which it is de- 

 signed to promote. Certain 

 words in many songs, and 

 often those of entire songs, 

 are not understood by the 

 Hopi ; generally these are not 

 archaic Hopi words or songs, 

 but have been introduced 

 from the Pueblo Indians on 

 the Rio Grande — another 

 example of cultural borrow-- 

 ing. 



In the notes on modern 

 burial customs of the Hopi 

 Mr. Voth says that a child 

 which has not yet been 

 initiated into one of the reli- 

 gious societies is not buried in 

 a cemetery but a crevice in 

 the edge of the mesa (Fig. 2). 

 .\ road is made then towards 

 the child's home, because it 

 is believed that the soul of 

 that child returns to the 

 house of its parents, and is 

 reincarnated in the ne.xt child 

 to be born in that family. 

 Other notes deal with tlie 

 c"r'rav1r°Frtm"'^lV;;" Eagle cult of the Hopi, tlie 



Oraibi new year ceremony, 

 the winter ceremony of 

 the Drab Flute Society, 

 and Hopi marriage rites. An important element in 

 the last is the washing of the hair of the couple, "and 

 especially the washing of the two heads in the same 

 bowl is said to be the ' crucial moment ' in w'hich the 

 two are supposed to 'become one.'" Most of the 

 articles are richly illustrated by photographs. 



A. C. H.ADDON. 



